‘Loot and plunder!’ Fri’Avgi yelled enthusiastically while Yuriko rolled her eyes.

‘And where will we loot and plunder?’

‘The enemies!’ came the eager cry.

‘There aren’t any here,’ Yuriko replied, and she felt the disappointment in the little spirit, who she wasn’t sure was really a little girl. Fri’Avgi said she wasn’t one, or a little boy either, just…herself. Yuriko was hesitant to refer to the spirit as an “it”. Well, she decided to keep referring to her as female, and when she asked if that was fine, received an indifferent shrug in return.

‘Boo.’

Fri’Avgi’s consciousness retreated back into Yuriko’s Anima and returned to napping. After Damien’s earlier comment, he’d gone back to sleep, too.

Still, Fri’Avgi wasn’t wrong. If they couldn’t grow and stock food in time, then they could only steal it.

‘Not from the locals,’ she decided firmly. ‘From the armies.’

An army lived and died on their stomachs, and logistics must flow from the cities to the frontline. She was sure their supplies were stored in secure locations, but they must bring those through the roads. Or rivers, maybe.

Tapping her lips, she wondered if that was the only thing they could do now. Unless Saki brought back several MiJin worth of supplies back with her. Impossible unless she brought reinforcements. That was unlikely, however, so Yuriko must solve their supply problem another way.

She gnawed at the problem for the rest of the evening. Her people went through their training under her watchful eye. She descended from the rock pillar when they started, observing the state of their physiques with her light.

The nomads stared at her with slack jaws as her golden light was brighter than the campfire. They skittered away when she looked their way.

The next morning, during weapons training, Grandma Joslyn walked up to her, talking a deep gulp right at the edge of Yuriko’s aura.

“Yes?” she asked, curiously.

“Are you training an army?” Joslyn asked in a strained voice. “You intend to fight Uaran and Kadrac?”

“Yes.”

“Oh…” Joslyn murmured. She didn’t say anything else and went back to her family. Afterwards, she saw them holding a serious discussion amongst themselves, with an occasional gaze sent her way.

The Talim family had finished refilling their water barrels and were loading them onto a cart. Their goats were loitering around and Yuriko couldn’t see where their cart horse was…huh? The yoke didn’t look like it was set for horses or any animal of burden. Instead, it was a bar wrapped in cloth. Ah, the single cart was probably pulled by some of the family members.

After that little mystery was solved, the morning training progressed wonderfully. The unawakened ex-guards were slowly improving. She could see the crispness of their forms, though there was no elemental resonance yet. But if she activated her Chaos Sight, she could see the ambient Chaos motes sometimes moved in time with the forms. It was miniscule and happened once or twice during the entire sequence, but she was sure they would be able to get it soon enough. She wondered if that would help them awaken…

The Atavism Ritual was the only way she knew for children to awaken and be able to increase their Animus cap. Anyone can train to manipulate Animus, and she knew they were able to do so. But only to the point of bringing Animus out of their bodies and infusing it to something.

According to Sheamus and Hurin, that was the process used by the Coalition and the Federation. They would train and infuse their Animus into objects, and eventually, both would awaken. The process took longer than the Atavism Ritual though, but then again, the Imperial method required expensive and unique reagents.

Accordingly, most Federation people who manage to awaken only do so in their midteens rather than at thirteen. Izna Weyr was actually one of the better Spirit Binders, having managed to awaken himself at fourteen.

The unawakened here now, however, were already in their mid twenties. That meant that their previous efforts had been in vain, and there was little chance to quicken their Anima reserves. That’s what the other two Adepts said when she asked. Still, the ex-guards weapons skills weren’t at the level she was satisfied at and even if there was little chance for an awakening, at least they would be better able to hold their own in battle.

As for the civilian unawakened, they were an order of magnitude worse than the ex-guards. Still, in the couple of days, they had shown remarkable progress. Unfortunately, Yuriko thought that they would have to stop soon since they didn’t have the extra food to feed their body building.

“It all comes down to food, in the end,” she muttered. Too bad that they didn’t have that many ration bars left.

After the morning training, she sought out Heron, who was wiping himself down. He arched an eyebrow at her. “Yuri?”

“It’s time,” she answered with a smile. “I have enough distilled Chaos for your baptism.” She hesitated for a moment, “Do you still want to continue? Following the Ancient’s Way means eventually abandoning…leaving your Heritage behind. You can continue as you are now, and accept the greater strength given to you by your Body Forging. Accepting the baptism means you’ll have to start from the beginning again.”

Heron looked thoughtful, then shook his head. “I will not turn back.” He grinned and his eyes glinted with humour, “I can’t continue to fall behind you.”

Yuriko raised an eyebrow and barked a laugh. “Alright. But know that this is but the beginning and the transition is painful.” She paused. “And holds more danger than following your Heritage. This is…well, I don’t know what else we’ll face on the Ancient’s Way.”

“Gwendith follows the same path, doesn't she?” Heron asked, and when Yuriko nodded, he continued. “Her techniques and aura are exquisite. I want to be able to do the same. I…can barely be of use to you at this point.”

Yuriko tilted her head. “Heron…you’re my friend. I don’t measure my friends by how much use they are to me.” She huffed. “Frankly, I’m annoyed you even think that.”

“Ahaha…” He chuckled nervously. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, I don’t want to be left behind, and look at you. You can fight people above your Anima level easily. There will come a time that the only thing I can do when you fight is watch you from afar. I’m afraid,” he swallowed, “that soon, I won’t even be able to see your back. So please, I want to go through with this. I want the power to walk by your side.”

Yuriko felt her cheeks heating up and noticed that Heron’s bronzed skin was similarly flushing.

“Wow, that was another love confession wasn’t it?” A tinkling laugh accompanied Gwendith as she walked around the corner. Yuriko jumped, then blushed even harder. Her perception aura was up yet Gwendith still got the jump on her? Eh? Gwendith’s Anima was expanded and it was excluding her golden light. She had been so preoccupied that she didn’t notice her aura getting pushed aside. Gwendith waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“Er, I didn’t intend that…I mean…uh, yes, I guess?” Heron sputtered. He shook his head, “I mean, those are merely my sentiments.” His flush had subsided and he had a resolute look on his face. “Anyway, I am willing to undergo the baptism. What must I do?”

“Ooh! You’re doing it with him?” Gwendith gushed. “Let me watch!”

“Er, sure.” Yuriko sighed, then focused on Heron, “We’ll need someplace private, and where you can quickly wash. The baptism…will make you bleed and hurt, and some filth will, uhm, come out of your orifices, so it’d be better not to wear your good clothes…”

“Oh, yeah. We did it in the bathroom naked, didn’t we?” Gwendith continued. The sparkle in her eye told Yuriko that Gwen was being completely ambiguous with her words on purpose. Thankfully, nobody else was within earshot. However, Heron was back to blushing furiously.

“Well, you’ll ruin those if you keep them on. I don’t mind either way,” Yuriko said. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know what lay underneath those. Aside from her incarnations’ memories, her perceptive aura could penetrate through cloth almost as easily as through air. Not that she peeked on purpose!

Here being in the middle of a desert meant that there were no bathrooms. And this place also being a travellers’ way stop rather than a village also meant that the couple of buildings were really nothing more than four walls and a roof. They’d have better privacy near the rock pillars.

“Come along.” She muttered to both of her friends. Heron clutched at his towel and followed behind the two of them nervously. Once they had privacy, Yuriko said, “Well, it's your choice.”

The young man blinked, then stared pointedly at her and Gwendith. “Uh, turn around?”

“Oh, yeah.” Yuriko muttered while Gwendith giggled. Not that looking away meant she wouldn’t be able to see with her perception aura. Ah, she pulled it back away from him, and heard the rustle of cloth as he hurriedly got out of his travelling gear. “Face away from us. I’ll need to place my hands on your back.”

“Alright.” Heron answered, then after a moment, said, “I’m ready.”

He was in his underwear and was kneeling on the ground, facing away. For a moment, she looked at the well sculpted muscles of his back, which was broader than she remembered.

“Oh my,” Gwendith murmured, though when Yuriko looked at the other girl, her face was somewhat pale and her hands were trembling.

She gave Gwendith’s hand a supporting squeeze. Despite her words and faked enthusiasm, it would not have been easy for the other girl.

“You don’t have to.” Yuriko murmured.

Gwendith shook her head, and her expression changed to determination. “I will overcome it.”

Fri’Avgi was summoned to her left hand, and with her right, she placed her palm in the middle of Heron’s shoulder blades. She still kept her aura away from his body to give him privacy. His body felt hot, and she could feet his breath quicken.

“Relax,” she said. “Uhm, don’t bite your tongue.”

Even from behind she could tell that he was rolling his eyes. Chuckling to herself, she pulled the distilled Chaos from Fri’Avgi’s storage, despite the animating spirit’s protests, and slowly funneled it into Heron’s Anima.

“Intent and Will is key. Do not give in,” Yuriko intoned as the flood of distilled Chaos left her hand.

Heron gave a pained gasp, but other than that, he didn’t give out another sound. His body began to shine with green light, and his skin began to crack. Red droplets seeped out, and Heron began to moan and quiver. He pitched forward and caught himself with his hands, but for a moment, Yuriko’s palm left contact. That gave him a bit of a reprieve, but not for long. She didn’t know if interrupting the process would hurt, but there was no way she was taking any chances.

She moved closer and knelt behind him. Her palm pressed onto his back and she resumed flooding his body and Anima with Chaos.

“Use Recovery,” she said hastily, “and Body Forging in turn. Dump the excess away from your Anima!”

His only answer was a grunt of pain. It took several minutes, but soon, black blood seeped out of his skin. He was trembling and Yuriko didn’t know what to do. This was taking longer than when Gwendith experienced her baptism! She had already slowed the trickle of distilled Chaos, yet his Anima had yet to emerge from his body.

Thinking quickly, Yuriko wove the pattern for Recovery and Anima refinement in runescript lines, then pressed her Anima in his. She felt her Mien react, then found a conduit between the two of them. The bindings? She remembered that Heron had cast his Threads around her after she broke off the Mien’s chains, and now, she felt the connection. She threaded her Anima through the Threads, and into his Anima.

The inside was fractured and barely held together. She could see the flames of his life slowly flickering away. What had she done? Oh no…Heron!

She poured Radiant light within him, seeking to banish the distilled Chaos. The motes of Radiant light bonded with the free floating Chaos and flared into multi-coloured hues. It healed over some of the cracks! She wrapped the Radiant motes around his life fire, seeking to keep it lit.

“Stay with me!” she moaned desperately, and the flames pulsed in response. Slowly, as she poured Radiant energy and Animus into his body and Anima, he recovered. The fractures and fissures healed over, and as they did, his Anima grew stronger.

She didn’t know how long it took, but eventually, his Anima rejected her Radiant light, and pulled in a different coloured light from his surroundings.

Finally, thankfully, Heron’s body stopped bleeding. Recovery closed the fractures on his skin, and Yuriko sighed in relief. A moment later, Heron’s Anima aura burst out from his body. Bluish light spread out and covered Yuriko, making her blink in surprise as her clothes pressed against her body. Then, the light receded closer to his skin, at three inches.

The next moment, Heron collapsed face down on the ground, a silly smile on his face. “I did it…heh.”